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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25046005">Oh Maker</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyvvardenfell/pseuds/greyvvardenfell'>greyvvardenfell</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ZevWarden Week 2020 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Age: Origins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, First Time, Implied Sexual Content, Sexual Content</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:14:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,207</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25046005</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyvvardenfell/pseuds/greyvvardenfell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This moment has been building for a long time: Zevran and Reydis finally make it to her tent.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Zevran Arainai/Brosca, Zevran Arainai/Warden</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ZevWarden Week 2020 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1811920</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>ZevWarden Week 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Oh Maker</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for ZevWarden Week 2020: Day 3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Ancestors, I hate fighting skeletons. They’re so creepy when they move! And you’d think something fleshless wouldn’t leave so much residue on our weapons, right?” Reydis shuddered theatrically. “Disgusting. I’ve never been happier to see sunlight than the second we hauled that temple door open.”</p><p></p><div class="">
  <p>Around the campfire, her companions murmured their sympathy. Alistair, beside her, groaned at the memory. At least Reydis had the benefit, such as it was, of having lived underground for most of her life. He, Amgarrak, and Zevran couldn’t say the same.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“This Lady of the Forest, you say she disappeared when Zathrian undid his curse?” Morrigan asked. “A shame. I would have liked to know the spells she used to transform into Witherfang.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Pfft. Like you’ve ever willingly learned from another person.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The withering glare Morrigan shot at Alistair in response said more than she could have in Common.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Didn’t miss that, though,” Reydis grumbled to herself.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The campfire sent a cascade of sparks into the air as if it agreed. Despite her hopes, Morrigan had not let go of her disdain for Alistair and he had not forgiven her for her callousness following Duncan’s death. Reydis couldn’t find it within herself to blame either of them, though; old wounds heal slowly.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Almost automatically, she turned to share a glance with Zevran before remembering that he had begged off and disappeared into the gathering evening, holding the gloves she’d purchased for him at Varathorn’s aravel close to his chest. Her heart clenched to see the confusion in his eyes as he examined the simple embroidery, to hear his whisper to the Maker when he realized why she’d gone to such trouble. <em>They are like my mother’s</em>, he had said, running his thumb across the soft leather. <em>No one has ever given me a gift before.</em></p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>If only she could shower him in gifts. Perhaps he would understand, then, how much he had given her in return.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>-------------</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Light from the fire, and from the Dalish encampment across the river, barely reached the secluded corner of the meadow. Zevran thanked his elven ancestors for the night-sight they’d so helpfully provided as he made his way past a line of low bushes to the site he’d scouted out when the sun still shined. Just as he’d left it: quiet, masked from all but those purposefully looking, an oasis of privacy. He smiled to himself and set down the bundle of canvas and rope that had once been Reydis’s tent. It was perfect.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>How long had it been since she kissed him under the soft evening at Flemeth’s hut? How long had they been walking together, the boredom of the road erased by each other’s laughter? How long, indeed, had he slept lightly, tossing and turning on his bedroll, wanting something he didn’t dare put words to?</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zevran began to re-stake the tent, his mind elsewhere. This Warden of his… she listened like no one else ever had. With a jolt, one that he’d felt so often as he spent more time with her, he knew that she cared, truly, about him. The way her brow softened, her small smile as she pressed the Dalish-made gloves into his hands. How strange, for the touch of another to light a cold fire across his skin.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He wanted to feel that fire everywhere.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He’d decided long ago, after his gentle foray into flirting with her high atop Mount Daverus in Andraste’s sacred temple, that she would lead this dance between them. She had the most to lose; after all, what was he but a failed assassin, good for nothing but warming beds and slitting throats? She had the blood of legends flowing in her veins and the weight of Thedas’s future on her shoulders. He could only offer what little he had to ease her burden. He still felt the brush of her lips, the sting of her fingers tugging at his hair when she finally acted upon the feelings he’d heard screaming at her for months. He’d done what he could to encourage her, but he swore he would not become Taliesen and manipulate her into bed.</p>
  <p>Not anymore.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Such a thin line he trod, like the rooftops of Antiva City. But to fall would lead to his death more certainly than an alley below. He would have nothing, then. No one. Standing alone against the full might of the Crows in a foreign land, with an encroaching Blight at his back. Even Rinna would laugh at the trap he’d walked into this time.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Footsteps startled Zevran out of his thoughts. Surely no one was worried enough to come looking for him. He didn’t recognize the gait until a pair of round eyes, glowing like a lyrium vein, met his out of the dark.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Enchantment?” Sandal piped, holding out a box.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Ah, yes. Bodahn had made good and found the candles he’d asked for. He smiled as he reached for them. “Oh, it will be most enchanting indeed, my friend.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Enchantment!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Sandal vanished as quickly as he had appeared. Zevran could smell the vanilla-and-amber of the candle wax even through the sturdy plywood. Bodahn would get his payment and more, if all went according to plan tonight.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And even if it didn’t, Zevran told himself, all would be well. Reydis was her own person, no more beholden to his desires than she was to anyone else’s. She owed him nothing. However much he prided himself on his patience, though, the constant tension between them was beginning to wear him down. All through the forest, he waited. Every time they found themselves alone together, in the shadow of a tree or the notch of a collapsed wall, he went to her. She welcomed his presence, his kiss, his eager hands, leaning into him with sighs and moans that went straight to his groin. And every time, they were interrupted. Alistair would trip over a fallen branch, Amgarrak would bark wildly at a bird high overhead, and Reydis would shrink back into herself, blushing furiously, embarrassed by the mere idea of being caught <em>wanting</em>.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Even if nothing else worked out, at least Zevran would show her that she was <em>wanted</em> too.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>-------------</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Reydis grinned as Zevran stepped back into the circle of firelight and sat down beside her. He offered no explanation for his absence, but returned her smile as he curved an arm around her shoulders. She closed her eyes and let out her breath in a sweet sigh. He was so comfortable, so comforting, warm in the chill of the early autumn night. The jokes and stories of their companions faded into the pulse of his heartbeat.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Gradually, Zevran leaned back and repositioned himself so she lay between his legs. One by one, the number around the fire dwindled as the stars brightened overhead. Sten rose first and departed without a word, followed several minutes later by Shale. Morrigan melted into the darkness next, her own campsite flaring to life on the other side of the clearing. Alistair gave a jaw-splitting yawn and stumbled away to his tent shortly after, with Amgarrak on his heels. All the while Zevran curled himself tighter and tighter around Reydis, letting his hands wander over her arms, her sides, her belly. Before they went to bed, Leliana and Wynne shared a knowing look. Wynne opened her mouth to recommend caution, but Leliana shook her head: if anyone knew what they were doing, it was Zevran. She quickly ushered Wynne away, leaving them alone beside the flickering flames.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Reydis blinked, breaking out of a doze, at the sound of Wynne and Leliana taking their leave. As she stretched, Zevran heard her shoulders pop. He traced up her body to rub his palms over her back, warmth coiling in his stomach when she hummed happily and folded over to give him full access. He took the opportunity to rise to a kneel.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Oh, my dear,” Zevran murmured. “Such a mess you’ve made of your shoulders. All this constant walking and fighting… I think I know what you need.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She snorted, but her eyes glinted teasingly as she glanced back at him. “A good night’s rest, maybe?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Mm. Perhaps.” The lightest kiss, placed at the top of her spine, made her shiver. “Though more drastic measures may be called for, in this particular instance.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zevran slid his hands around her torso to cup her breasts. She inhaled sharply, but let him stay. “My thought is this,” he continued, pressing close to her ear. “We retire to your tent and I show you the sort of massage skills that one only learns growing up in an Antivan whorehouse.” He punctuated his message by drawing his thumbs across her nipples.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She swallowed hard. “Is that all?” she asked breathily, already arching into his touch.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“If you mean to ask whether or not there might be more than a massage involved…” Zevran rested his chin on her shoulder and moved his hands down her flanks, tracing lines against her skin through the fabric of her shirt. “Allow me simply to say that you won’t be disappointed with any of my techniques. And I have made certain arrangements to the configuration of our tents that I think you will find most satisfactory. We would not be interrupted this time.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“So that’s where you snuck off to earlier,” she said, the laughter in her voice shuddering as he slipped his fingers under the waistband of her leggings to trace the jut of her hips, following the vee of her thighs until he felt coarse hair against his fingertips.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>As if seeing for the first time the end of this path, Reydis turned suddenly to face him, making him withdraw. “Are you sure about this?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I have rarely been more certain of anything, my dear Warden. You deserve a little fun, do you not?” Zevran kissed her knuckles and watched conflicting emotions flicker across her face over the smooth skin of her hand. “If you are not of a mind, however...”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“No,” she said slowly, “That’s not it at all. I do want, um, that.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zevran smiled gently and leaned forward on his knees, relieved. “Then allow me to provide it.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He captured her mouth with his, parting her full lips with his tongue, skating his hands over her skin and hugging her close. As they broke apart for breath, he stood up, pulling her with him. She swooned in his embrace, looping her arms around his neck, pressing close against him and running her fingers through his hair. He guided her firmly but gently into the ring of shadows surrounding the fire, eager to reach her tent.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>When he parted from her to undo the flap, she hesitated, like the reality of what they were about to do had just now sunk in. “Zev, I—”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yes?” he asked softly, tenderly, with a reassuring hand on her waist.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She turned away, embarrassed. “I just— You don’t really— I mean, I’ve never <em>done </em>this before, and I—”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He chuckled again, low and deep in his throat. “Everyone has a first time. Believe me, yours will be better than most.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I want it to be good for you, too.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Are you expecting that it won’t be?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I won’t know what I’m doing, though.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zevran nudged her jaw, urging her to look at him. “I think you’re selling yourself short, my dear,” he said kindly. “Ah, no pun intended.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>That brought a small smile to her face. She was indeed a good deal shorter than him, though their height difference paled next to how tall the humans were to both of them.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He continued, stroking her cheek. “I’ve seen, and felt, how you respond to just simple kisses, and I think you will surprise yourself. But in any case, you shall be the focus tonight, not me. And I intend to please you so thoroughly, so well—” He slid a warm hand under her shirt. “—that you may forget why we’re even here. It would be my honor to pleasure you so.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Despite the nimble fingers dancing over her sensitive skin, Reydis still frowned. “Are you sure?” she asked once again, barely a whisper.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>In answer, Zevran leaned down to kiss along her collarbone, alternating with sharp nips. She moaned softly, her knees weak, and he laughed against her neck to hear her need. “I want you,” he murmured, voice rough with desire. “Let there be no doubt about that.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Her last reservations snapped like twigs and she melted into his arms.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Zevran pulled her into the tent, guided her the few steps from the entrance to her bedroll, and turned to fasten the door flap. With his back to her, he smiled to feel his erection straining against the laces of his leggings. The art of seduction may have helped his cause, but this, with her… It had been a long time since he'd allowed himself to desire another, to admire the face of a lover without Rinna's desperate green eyes, locked with his in her final heartbeat, peeking through. </p>
  <p>When he turned back, he saw nothing but Reydis. Zevran let his grief slip away into the night, if only for the moment, as he secured the last knot and joined her.</p>
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